Wednesday 5 February 2025, 12:30-1:30pm
Quaker House, Square Ambiorix 50, 1000 Brussels
Peace Brigades International (PBI), the Creating Safer Space research network (CSS), and the Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) cordially invite you to a brown-bag lunch about experiences and research insights on protective accompaniment and community-led unarmed civilian protection amidst the violent political and social conflicts in Colombia.
Colombia has an immense richness of experiences with proactive nonviolent strategies civilians use to keep themselves and others safe. We will get insights from a protective accompanier who has volunteered with Peace Brigades International Colombia and the research network Creating Safer Space that focusses on better understanding community-led unarmed civilian protection, exploring what works, how it works, and what main challenges for self-protecting communities are.
Speakers:
- Emily Humphreys (Peace Brigades International – PBI): Emily, ex-volunteer ‘Brigadista’ from PBI Colombia project, will lead a discussion and exchange on PBI’s accompaniment model in Colombia, both preventative and reactive. Space will be made to discuss President Petro’s ‘Total Peace’ strategy, looking at the challenges ahead in his final year of presidency and what scenarios lay ahead for the Organisations and Defenders leading peace efforts in Colombia.
- Prof Berit Bliesemann de Guevara (Aberystwyth University, UK): Berit will report on select insights from 10 Creating Safer Space research projects in collaboration with self-protecting communities in Colombia.
- Discussion
Tea/coffee will be provided.
Peace Brigades International (PBI): Founded in 1981, Peace Brigades International provides protection, support and recognition to local human rights defenders who work in areas of repression and conflict and have requested our support. This is achieved through protective accompaniment, international observation, advocacy, awareness raising and capacity development.
The PBI team in Colombia has been active since 1994, accompanying 15 Colombian organisations and human rights defenders across the entire country, from its offices in Bogota and Barrancabermeja.
Creating Safer Space: Creating Safer Space is a 5-year, £2.25 million international research network led by Aberystwyth University in collaboration with partners in Colombia, Kenya, Thailand, the UK and the US. We support research on unarmed civilian protection and self-protection amidst violent conflict in eleven countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia and aim to strengthen civilian capacities for nonviolent protection and conflict transformation.
Brown-bag lunch participants are also invited to take this opportunity to visit the Creating Safer Space Exhibition, on show at Quaker House from 4-7 February 2025,